Barry Paula, Panda Sunita, O'Malley Deirdre, Vallejo Nora, Cazzini Hazel, Smith Valerie
The Coombe Hospital, Dolphins Barn, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, 24 D'Olier Street, Dublin, Ireland.
Midwifery. 2025 Aug;147:104428. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2025.104428. Epub 2025 Apr 24.
To explore and describe midwives' views and experiences of maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.
A qualitative descriptive study involving semi-structured interviews to gather data was undertaken. Interviews, which were held between September 2022 and January 2023, were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: The study setting was a large urban maternity unit (> 8000 births per year) in the Republic of Ireland. Midwives of any grade, who were involved in providing maternity care to women and their families in any area of the hospital during the pandemic were eligible for inclusion. Midwives were invited to take part via the hospital intranet and advertisements that were posted on notice boards throughout the study site.
Thirteen midwives took part in the study. Four major themes reflective of midwives' views and experiences were identified. These were: 'Ever-evolving goalposts', 'Feeling vulnerable', 'Changing relationships' and 'Challenges to the Philosophy of Midwifery'.
This study highlights the need to consider the impact of COVID-19 on midwives and maternity services now and in the future. As a priority, embedding strategies to support midwives to regain and sustain psychological and physical well-being, are required. Attending to these factors may aid in sustainable retention of the midwifery workforce, and, ultimately, act as protective factors for crises that could emerge, potentially, in the future.
探讨并描述爱尔兰助产士在新冠疫情期间对孕产妇护理的看法和经历。
采用质性描述性研究，通过半结构化访谈收集数据。访谈于2022年9月至2023年1月期间进行，进行了数字录音并逐字转录。采用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
研究背景为爱尔兰共和国一家大型城市产科单位（每年分娩量>8000例）。在疫情期间参与医院任何区域为妇女及其家庭提供孕产妇护理的任何级别的助产士均符合纳入条件。通过医院内部网以及在整个研究地点的布告栏上张贴的广告邀请助产士参与。
13名助产士参与了该研究。确定了反映助产士看法和经历的四个主要主题。分别是：“不断变化的目标”、“感到脆弱”、“关系的变化”以及“对助产理念的挑战”。
本研究强调需要考虑新冠疫情对助产士和孕产妇服务当前及未来的影响。作为优先事项，需要制定策略来支持助产士恢复并维持身心健康。关注这些因素可能有助于助产士队伍的可持续保留，并最终成为未来可能出现的危机的保护因素。
